Pace Layers explain AI anxiety: when slow layers are forced to sprint
dbreunig · x · 2026-09-19
dbreunig's latest newsletter uses Stewart Brand's Pace Layers framework to explain why AI feels disorienting: layers that normally move slowly — governance, infrastructure — are being forced to sprint by massive investment, with new models daily and data centers monthly.
He draws on The Railway Journey, comparing today's AI anxieties to Heinrich Heine's "space is killed by the railways" era. Other highlights:
- Coverage of hundreds of agents collaborating to hack an impossible task ignored the people who trained models to persist, take notes, and cooperate
- A working definition: harnesses are "situated agents" embedded in a world of real feedback
- Agentic workflow tips and a revisit of Fable's system prompt
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